Bio:Time Lord who was, at least in the classic version of Doctor Who, the Doctor's greatest enemy. However, in the 2005 version of the show, the Daleks are arguably a stronger, and certainly more-often-used, opponent.

While both are renegades from Time Lord society, the Master represents the dark use of time travel technology while the Doctor represents its more beneficial side.

Notes:Subject to change, no attempt will be made in this database to differentiate between the various incarnations of the Master, as has been done with the Doctor. The Master's history is a good deal sketchier than the Doctor's, making the task a little more complex.

At right are three comic images of the Master. At top left is the first televised Master, Roger Delgado. He arguably had the most comic appearances, but he was also drawn with a surprising amount of variation. In some appearances, dialogue and narrative boxes are needed to identify the character. However, he's rarely (if ever) seen in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, as he was long gone from the role by the time Marvel got the Doctor Who comics license.

At bottom left is the version portrayed on television by Anthony Ainley. He was rarely used in comics, but he was drawn with a great deal more clarity.

Oddly, though the Delgado version was probably used most in the totality of Doctor Who comics, the one that appears most in Doctor Who Magazine is one of Marvel's own invention. This version is seen at the far right. In the closing couple of years of the Eighth Doctor's black-and-white run in DWM, a successor to the Eric Roberts Master seen in the 1996 television movie (TVM) was postulated. This Master escaped his TVM confinement in the Doctor's TARDIS and stole the form of a street preacher. This version was physically unlike any ever seen on television. He appears as a balding, clean-shaven individual, dressed in variations of priest's clothing and is ultimately shown to have been working behind the scenes of a number of adventures to bring the Doctor before him. Only in the final, sprawling epic of the black-and-white Marvel age does the Master at last reveal himself to the Doctor. This makes tracking his appearances somewhat tricky, because ultimately he can be said to have been involved in the stories for at least two full years before the reader actually knew it. In this sense, the Master's reappearance in 1990s DWM comics is structurally similar to his reappearance in the 2007 television season. He's sorta the "ticking time bomb" of a whole "season" of comic stories.

The final in-continuity appearance of the Master in Doctor Who comics, as of 2008, shows him being utterly wiped out of time when Kroton lays down his life for the sake of all creation. True to form, however, his to-date-final words would have been "I will survive" — had he been allowed to complete them.

Other comic versions:
While the Master's final comic appearance was in the last black-and-white strip done for DWM, he has appeared once in color. This use was in a metafictional story told from his perspective in which he reviewed his place amongst the greatest fictional criminals of all time. However, its distinctly post-modern feel tends to make most fans believe it to be an out-of-continuity story.

As of the spring of 2008, the versions of the Master seen on the latest version of Doctor Who — those played by Derek Jacobi and John Simm — have not been seen in comics.